D-Backs Acquire Eduardo Escobar
The Diamondbacks have officially struck a deal with the Twins that sends infielder Eduardo Escobar to Arizona. Ken Rosenthal and Dan Hayes of The Athletic (Twitter link) reported an agreement was close, while Jon Heyman of Fancred tweets that there is in fact a deal in place.
In return, the Twins will get three Class A ballplayers in the deal, Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets. Righty Jhoan Duran and outfielders Ernie De La Trinidad and Gabriel Maciel are all going to Minnesota. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 had tweeted that a trio of minor-leaguers would go to the Twins in the deal.
Escobar will reach free agency at season’s end, making him an obvious trade piece for the Twins. While the Minnesota club is still not fully buried in the AL Central, with a seven-game deficit, the club obviously determined that it was not close enough to the talented Indians to hold off on moving veteran assets.
With the deadline drawing near, Escobar arguably rated as the top infielder available. He is earning just $4.8MM this year, so his salary was rather easy to absorb for most contenders. Esobar sat at 18th on MLBTR’s recent listing of the top 75 trade deadline candidates, though he would have been significantly higher had it been clear that the Twins were ready to deal.
Even with Escobar leaving the market, there still remain quite a few other potential infield targets. Top rentals include now-former teammate Brian Dozier (who is likely limited to second base), Asdrubal Cabrera, Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler, and a group of veteran shortstops (Adeiny Hechavarria, Jose Iglesias, Freddy Galvis).
For the time being, at least, it seems likely that Escobar will slot in at third base, which is where he has spent most of the year. D-Backs incumbent Jake Lamb is dealing with a shoulder injury that may require a DL stint. He has also struggled mightily at the plate this year after two consecutive quality campaigns.
Escobar certainly has not had any difficulties putting bat to ball in 2018. He’s sporting a career-best .274/.338/.514 batting line with 15 home runs through 408 plate appearances. That’s a fair sight more than the switch-hitter has ever produced at the plate over a full season in the past, though Escobar has posted roughly league-average batting lines in three of the past four campaigns.
Of course, the Diamondbacks will surely still hope that Lamb can return and provide a boost. It’s notable, then, that Escobar has extensive experience at shortstop and also has spent time at second base (as well as the corner outfield). He may ultimately end up moving around the diamond as needs dictate down the stretch.
On the Twins’ side, there’s some interesting young talent coming back. Per MLB.com’s recently updated organizational rankings, Maciel ranked as the 11th-best prospect in the Arizona system, with Duran listed in the 19th spot. Maciel is valued for his ability to get aboard and do damage on the basepaths when he does. Entering the season, Baseball America rated both of those players among the thirty best Diamondbacks prospects. In their latest look, they bumped Duran into the club’s top-ten list on the basis of his big heater and “power curve.” While he still needs a third pitch to profile as a future starter, it seems there’s a lot to like about his arm.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Mets Designate Matt den Dekker
The Mets have designated outfielder Matt den Dekker for assignment, as Matt Ehalt of The Record was among those to tweet. His roster spot was needed for the just-signed Austin Jackson.
It turned out to be a brief return to the majors with the Mets for den Dekker, who’s nearing his 31st birthday. The former New York draftee (5th round, 2010) had spent the early portion of the season at Triple-A Las Vegas. In 249 plate appearances there, den Dekker posted a .286/.336/.524 slash with 11 homers and six steals.
Reds Designate Kyle Crockett
The Reds have designated southpaw Kyle Crockett, the club announced. That move, along with the optioning of righty Austin Brice, allowed the club to promote southpaw Wandy Peralta and right-hander Keury Mella.
Crockett, 26, had recorded 11 strikeouts while issuing only one walk in his 9 1/3 MLB innings this year. Of course, he was also touched for six earned runs on 16 base knocks. He has seen scattered action over each of the past five MLB campaigns, holding same-handed-hitters to a cumulative .640 OPS but surrendering a .862 mark to opposing righty bats.
Cardinals Designate Tyler Lyons For Assignment
The Cardinals announced that they’ve designated left-handed reliever Tyler Lyons for assignment. St. Louis also formally announced the previously-reported DFA of right-hander Greg Holland and placed Brett Cecil on the 10-day DL with right foot inflammation. Combined with an out-of-the-blue trade of Sam Tuivailala to the Mariners, the series of moves marks a dramatic shuffling of the St. Louis pitching staff.
In a series of corresponding moves, the Cardinals promoted top prospect Dakota Hudson (as had been previously reported) and recalled lefty Tyler Webb and righties Daniel Poncedeleon and Luke Weaver from Triple-A Memphis.
Just a few short months ago, a DFA of Lyons would’ve been unfathomable. The 30-year-old Lyons steadily elevated his status with the Cards from 2015-17, improving his ERA and strikeout rates each season along the way, culminating with a 2017 campaign that saw him pitch 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball with 11.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 0.5 HR/9 and a 41.9 percent grounder rate. Lyons’ swinging-strike rate (10.3 percent) and chase rate (27.4 percent) weren’t as impressive as his K/9 mark might’ve led some to believe, but he nonetheless looked like a legitimate left-handed weapon out of the St. Louis ‘pen.
This season, though, he’s missed time on the disabled list with back and elbow injuries, pitching to a dismal 8.64 ERA through 16 2/3 innings when healthy enough to take the mound. That said, Lyons’ average fastball velocity has hardly plummeted (90 mph in 2017, 89.2 mph in 2018), and he’s still punched out 19 hitters in those 16 2/3 frames — all while maintaining similar swinging-strike and chase rates.
Today’s decision to designate Lyons for assignment, then, registers as a fairly notable surprise. Given that he’ll finish the season with four-plus years of MLB service time and can thus be controlled through the 2020 season before reaching free agency, it’d be even more stunning if Lyons weren’t ultimately traded to another club — or at the very least claimed off outright waivers. He’s earning just $1.2MM this season and, given his recent success in the Majors, should draw interest from both contending clubs and non-contending teams alike.
Mariners Acquire Sam Tuivailala From Cardinals
The Mariners have acquired right-handed reliever Sam Tuivailala from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league right-hander Seth Elledge, the teams announced Friday. Elledge has been assigned to Double-A Springfield.
“Sam is in the midst of his second consecutive solid big league season, and has pitched in parts of four Major League seasons but has barely two years of service time,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said in a press release announcing the move. “We view this as a move for our present and our future.”
It’s another somewhat creative and unexpected trade for a Mariners club that has made a habit of identifying atypical trade candidates in recent seasons in spite of a poor farm system. In Tuivailala, Seattle is adding a 25-year-old righty who is in the midst of a solid season and can be controlled through the 2022 campaign.
Tuivailala, who won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 season, has spent his entire career in the Cardials organization since being selected in the third round of the 2010 draft. Dating back to Opening Day 2017, he’s stepped up and established himself as a useful contributor at the MLB level, tossing 74 innings of 3.04 ERA ball with 7.3 K/9, 2.7 BB/9, 0.85 HR/9 and a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate. He’s averaged 95.3 mph on his fastball over the past two seasons and made positive gains in both swinging-strike rate (from 9.5 percent to 10.1 percent) and chase rate (from 27.9 percent to 29.2 percent) so far in 2018.
While much has been made of the Mariners’ pursuit of rotation help, they’ve also been linked to bullpen upgrades, and Dipoto and his staff have previously prioritized acquiring longer-term assets when trading their own young talent away (e.g. Ryon Healy, James Pazos, Ben Gamel, Mitch Haniger). Tuivailala adds to that trend and gives recently extended manager Scott Servais another option late in games to help bridge the gap from the rotation to All-Star closer Edwin Diaz.
For the Cardinals, the trade of Tuivailala comes as a surprise component to an otherwise highly anticipated shuffling of the team’s pitching staff. President of baseball ops John Mozeliak recently indicated that changes were coming to his roster, specifically as pertains to the ‘pen, though given Tuivailala’s remaining club control and general success over the past two seasons, few could’ve reasonably expected him to be a part of the machinations.
That said, in prying Elledge away from the Mariners, the Cards will pick up an intriguing relief prospect who seemingly has more upside than Tuivailala carries. Seattle selected Elledge in the fourth round of last season’s draft, and he’s absolutely torn through Class-A Advanced with the Mariners, working to a 1.17 ERA with 12.7 K/9, 3.5 BB/9, 0.23 HR/9 and a 50 percent ground-ball rate.
Elledge has been virtually untouchable to Class-A Advanced batters, yielding just 18 hits in 38 1/3 innings of work. Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com ranked Elledge 10th among Seattle farmhands on yesterday’s midseason update of each team’s Top 30 lists. The MLB.com duo writes that he sits 93-95 mph with a fastball that features “heavy sink” and is complemented by a slider and changeup — both of which have the potential to be average offerings.
White Sox Designate Chris Volstad For Assignment
The White Sox announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Chris Volstad for assignment. His spot on the 25- and 40-man rosters will go to right-hander Tyler Danish, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Charlotte. The ChiSox also called up right-handed reliever Thyago Vieira from Charlotte to join the big league bullpen.
Volstad, 31, has soaked up 47 1/3 innings for an ugly Chicago pitching staff so far in 2018, though he’s posted an ungainly 6.27 ERA with 5.5 K/9 against 2.3 BB/9 in that time. Those 47 1/3 frames are the most he’s totaled in a big league season since 2012; in fact, it’s a greater total than the combined number of MLB innings Volstad threw from 2013-17. The Sox have a week to trade him or run him through outright waivers, and it stands to reason that there’s a good chance he’ll clear and have the opportunity to remain in the organization at Triple-A.
Danish, 23, was one of Chicago’s better pitching prospects for a few years but cleared waivers and was removed from the 40-man roster last offseason. He’s had a nice run in Charlotte this season, though, notching a 3.06 ERA with 6.4 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 51.1 percent ground-ball rate in 64 2/3 innings of work. All but two of Danish’s 29 appearances have come in relief, so it seems the organization will see how the former starter fares out of the bullpen moving forward.
As for Vieira, the 25-year-old flamethrower has had his struggles in Charlotte this year — his first in the organization. Chicago picked him up in a trade that sent international bonus considerations to the Mariners this past offseason, and while he’s averaged a heart 11 strikeouts per nine innings pitched in 2018, he’s also averaged 5.3 walks in that same span. Vieira averaged 98.7 mph on his fastball in last year’s brief MLB debut with the Mariners, and he’ll bring the ability to miss plenty of bats to the table on the South Side, even if control could prove to be an ongoing issue.
Cardinals To Designate Greg Holland For Assignment, Promote Dakota Hudson
11:28am: Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch tweets that Holland will be designated for assignment — not released. That may well be a moot point, as the DFA will merely give the Cardinals a week (it had been 10 days prior to the new version of the CBA) to either trade Holland or place him on outright or release waivers. Holland would be able to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency anyhow, so if the Cards aren’t able to find a taker on the trade market — which would assuredly require them to eat the vast majority of Holland’s remaining $4.89MM salary — then it seems he’ll hit the open market regardless.
11:17am: The Cardinals are expected to release right-hander Greg Holland today, reports Jon Morosi of MLB.com (Twitter links). His roster spot will go to pitching prospect Dakota Hudson, who is set to have his contract selected from Triple-A Memphis, per Morosi.
That report certainly meshes with some recent comments made by president of baseball operations on the Bernie Miklasz Show on ESPN 101, in which Mozeliak said to “expect changes” to the club’s bullpen in the near future (Twitter link). The Athletic’s Mark Saxon recently speculated that Holland would be cut loose and that Hudson would be brought up to the big league roster (Twitter link).
The Cardinals’ decision to sign Holland to a last-minute, one-year contract with a $14MM guarantee on Opening Day proved to be a catastrophic misstep for the club. Not only did St. Louis surrender a valuable selection in the 2018 draft to do so, but the Cardinals received nothing in the way of on-field value from the 2017 National League saves leader.
Holland missed all of Spring Training while waiting to find a deal he and agent Scott Boras dubbed suitable, and the Cardinals made the eyebrow-raising decision to bring him to the Majors after just two minor league appearances. Holland struggled immediately, walking four batters in his Cardinals debut on April 9. Those struggles were the first of many in 2018 for Holland, whose Cardinals tenure will come to a close with a 7.92 ERA, 22 strikeouts and 22 walks over the life of 25 innings.
As for his replacement on the roster, Hudson will come to the Cardinals having drawn considerable fanfare since being selected with the 34th overall pick in the 2016 draft. He ranked as the Cardinals’ No. 4 prospect on this week’s updated Top 30 rankings from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, and while he falls outside that duo’s Top 100 overall prospects, Hudson is still viewed as a potential mid-rotation arm. The 23-year-old has pitched to a 2.50 ERA with 7.0 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 and a hefty 57.7 percent ground-ball rate through 111 2/3 innings in Triple-A Memphis this season.
Though Hudson is being promoted to replace a reliever, it seems quite likely that the organization will deploy him as a starter. Saxon speculated before that John Gant and/or Austin Gomber could be moved to the bullpen, with Hudson stepping into a starting spot and giving the Cards a couple of months to evaluate his future. Callis and Mayo note that while Hudson has four average or better offerings, led by his fastball and his slider, he still doesn’t miss many bats. His fastball/slider combo is strong enough, though, that he could work in relief even if he doesn’t pan out as a starter, per their report.
Cubs Acquire Cole Hamels
Cole Hamels and Yu Darvish are teammates once again, as the Cubs and Rangers announced a Friday morning trade sending Hamels from Texas to Chicago. The Rangers will send cash to Chicago as part of the deal and will receive right-hander Eddie Butler, right-handed pitching prospect Rollie Lacy and a player to be named later in return. The Cubs will reportedly take on $5MM of the $13.86MM still owed to Hamels ($7.86MM of his $22.5MM salary plus at least a $6MM buyout on next season’s $20MM club option).
The 34-year-old Hamels isn’t the ace that he once was, and he’s had his share of struggles in 2018 — albeit nearly all of them coming at his homer-happy home stadium in Arlington. Hamels is surrendering home runs at a career-worst rate, but it’s somewhat telling that 16 of the 23 round-trippers he’s yielded have come at Globe Life Park. Hamels has a 6.41 ERA, a 6.16 FIP and a 4.49 xFIP when pitching at home this season but a 2.93 ERA, 4.17 FIP and 3.83 xFIP on the road.
Early in the season, there was some concern over a decline in Hamels’ velocity, but he’s regained nearly all of the lost zip on his heater — an encouraging sign for he Cubs, who’ll hope that a move to the National League and a more pitcher-friendly stadium will improve Hamels’ results. Starting pitching wasn’t supposed to be a significant concern for Chicago after spending a combined $164MM to sign right-handers Yu Darvish and Tyler Chatwood this offseason. Unfortunately for Theo Epstein & Co., Darvish has been hampered by triceps injuries throughout the season, while Chatwood has alarmingly walked more hitters than any pitcher in baseball.
It’s not clear exactly how Hamels will fit into the Chicago rotation, but he’ll surely be guaranteed a starting job. Mike Montgomery has stepped up beautifully with Darvish on the disabled list and may very well have forced Chicago’s hand in keeping him in the rotation. Then again, Montgomery has also been effective as a reliever and could help to strengthen the bullpen if it’s him, not Chatwood, who is dropped to a relief role. Alternatively, the Cubs could simply look to deploy a six-man rotation consisting of Jon Lester, Jose Quintana, Kyle Hendricks, Hamels, Montgomery and Chatwood — though they’d certainly need to shuffle that arrangement when Darvish returns from the disabled list.
The Cubs currently sit about $14MM south of the $197MM luxury tax threshold, so there’s still room for the team to add even after acquiring Hamels — especially if it proves accurate that Chicago is only taking on about $4MM of salary in the deal. Chicago already added right-hander Jesse Chavez to its bullpen in a separate swap with the Rangers, but they were also linked to bigger-name relief targets in recent days, including Zach Britton and Jeurys Familia. Each, of course, has since been traded elsewhere, though it stands to reason that the Cubs will continue to monitor the market for bullpen help now that they’ve fortified their rotation a bit.
It’s not yet clear how the Rangers will utilize Butler, who has worked as both a starter and reliever in recent seasons. Texas will need to replace Hamels in the rotation, of course, though Butler’s ability to pitch multiple innings could also make him a natural candidate to step into the long relief role that was vacated when Chavez was traded to Chicago last week.
The 27-year-old Butler once rated as one of the game’s best pitching prospects during his days as a minor leaguer with the Rockies, but he never fully realized that potential. He’s shown potential at times in the Majors but owns a lifetime 5.71 ERA with 5.2 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, 1.28 HR/9 and a 48.4 percent ground-ball rate. Butler is not yet arbitration-eligible and can be controlled through the 2022 season if the Rangers wish, though he’ll likely be arb-eligible as a Super Two player for the first time this offseason. Of course, considering his minimal track record and the fact that he’s spent the vast majority of the 2018 season on the disabled list due to a groin strain, Butler won’t command much of a salary in arbitration just yet.
Lacy, meanwhile, didn’t rank among the top 30 prospects in a thin Chicago farm system on today’s updated Top 30 rankings from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com. That said, he’s in the midst of a terrific season in the minors so far and has performed similarly well since being selected in the 11th round of the 2017 draft.
Lacy has pitched to identical 2.45 ERAs in both 2017 and so far in 2018, and he was recently moved from the Class-A Midwest League to the Class-A Advanced Florida State League. In a total of 80 2/3 innings this year, he’s averaged 10.5 K/9 against 2.7 BB/9 with a ground-ball rate north of 60 percent. The 23-year-old Creighton product is only just now starting to face older competition, but his results to date are certainly encouraging.
Ultimately, the trade for the Rangers looks to have been more about cost savings than anything else. Lacy has shown some promise in the minors, and Butler gives them a lottery ticket who the Rangers hope can emerge as a viable big league arm, while the PTBNL could yet prove to be interesting as well. But at present, the likeliest outcome is that the money saved in this trade will represent the most valuable component of the swap for Texas.
Joel Sherman of the New York Post first made a strong connection between the Cubs and Hamels. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News reported (via Twitter) that an agreement had been reached. The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney first noted that Lacy had been scratched from his start, and Yahoo’s Jeff Passan reported more definitively that Lacy and a PTBNL were in the deal (Twitter link). Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram tweeted that the Rangers would receive a second pitcher who is “not a prospect” (which proved to be Butler). Fancred’s Jon Heyman reported (on Twitter) that the Cubs would take on $5MM of the remaining money owed to Hamels.
Mets To Sign Austin Jackson
The Mets have reached an agreement to sign free-agent outfielder Austin Jackson, reports Fancred’s Jon Heyman (via Twitter). Jackson, who is represented by Octagon, was released by the Rangers last week. MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo tweets that Jackson is signing a Major League deal.
Jackson will give New York another outfield option in the wake of Yoenis Cespedes‘ season-ending surgery. Because the Rangers are paying his salary after acquiring him from the Giants, though, the Mets only owe Jackson the pro-rated league minimum for any time spent on the MLB roster. Jackson is earning $3MM in both 2018 and 2019, and whatever the Mets pay him this season will be subtracted from the sum the Rangers are paying.
While Jackson has had a dreadful season at the plate, hitting just .242/.309/.295 through 165 PAs, he’s only a season removed from raking at a .318/.387/.482 pace with the 2017 Indians. Jackson also still drew positive grades for his baserunning with the Giants, though he drew poor defensive ratings from Defensive Runs Saved (-10), Ultimate Zone Rating (-7.5) and Outs Above Average (-3) through just under 300 innings in center field this season. That said, Jackson’s defense would likely rate better in a corner slot.
As a bench option who can play center in a pinch and fill in against left-handed pitchers — for all his struggles, he did hit .288 against lefties and post a .360 OBP this season — Jackson could still provide some value to the Mets, especially when considering the minimal price tag. For the time being, he could share time in center field with Matt den Dekker, though it’s also possible that the addition of Jackson will come at den Dekker’s expense.
Braves Acquire Jonny Venters From Rays
The Rays have traded left-handed reliever Jonny Venters to the Braves in exchange for international bonus pool space, according to announcements from both teams. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reports (on Twitter) that the Braves sent the minimum $250K to Tampa Bay in return for Venters.
Venters’ remarkably implausible return to the Majors after three Tommy John surgeries and a five-year absence was already among the best storylines of the 2018 season, but the fact that he’s now been reunited with his the organization for which he made his MLB debut only adds to the feel-good nature of his comeback.
The 33-year-old Venters broke into the Majors with Atlanta back in 2010 and immediately emerged as one of the better relievers in the National League, starring in a setup role for Craig Kimbrel from 2010-12 before going down with an elbow injury. Venters, incredibly, did not pitch in the Majors at all from 2013-17 before this season’s return as a member of the Rays.
So far in 2018, Venters has appeared in 22 games for Tampa Bay and been utilized as a left-handed specialist, as evidenced by the fact that he’s totaled just 14 innings. He’s posted a 3.86 ERA and an 11-to-6 K/BB ratio in that time, though one of those free passes was intentional. Venters’ 2011 season featured a 72.5 percent ground-ball rate — the eighth-highest mark in MLB history — and he’s been in vintage form so far this year, inducing grounders at a 70 percent clip. Venters has faced 26 lefties on the season and held them to an awful .167/.231/.292 slash, while the 32 righties he’s seen have hit him at a .250/.344/.357 pace.
Venters will give the Braves a fourth left-handed reliever, joining A.J. Minter, Sam Freeman and Jesse Biddle in the current relief corps for the time being. It’s not clear how the Braves will open a 25-man roster spot for Venters, though rookie Evan Phillips seems like a candidate to be optioned out.
The Rays’ return is minimal, though some of the motivation behind the deal may simply have been to do right by the veteran Venters. They’ll boost their 2018-19 pool enough to be able to pad their offer to some of the remaining talent on the international market or to make another few lower-priced signings. For the Braves, their pool allocations aren’t as important as they are to other clubs, as Atlanta is barred from signing any individual player for more than $300K anyhow.